Cala spera.......
Sorry to keep you all on tenterhooks, but you may have heard that I have my right arm in a cast after a fall in the marina! After an (amusing) trip to the fracture clinic yesterday it appears that nothing is broken (thank you wind Gods!) but have to keep the cast on till Tuesday. I will blog on my Greek hospital experience later as I think my medical associates will find it interesting.
Anyway....... back to Albania. When I left you last we had made the decision to head back to Vlore in Albania. I must admit that I wasn't particularly pleasant to live with for this leg of the trip! We had about 18 nms to go to get into Vlore and anxiety of entering Albania, our lack of ability to contact anyone and fatigue were taking their toll. But my stoic, heroic Craig kept on valiantly and soon we were making 7 knots back to land.
We reached the entrance to the bay just after 6.30pm. We were still unable to reach the port authorities, the marina or the other boats in our convoy and doubt started to creep in that there may be something wrong with our VHF radio.
The customs check in was miles away from the marina and eventually (sick to death of my whingeing, my (stoic, heroic) Craig decided to head straight for the marina and to hell with checking in to Albania (or words to that effect)!!
We arrived in the marina around 8pm and were rewarded with the beautiful sight of the crews from both Lady Olivia and Broke Aweigh standing on the pontoon!!! I don't think I have ever been so happy to see anyone in my life apart from the time that I lost my 2 year old son at Southbank on Australia day. After mutual hugs, kisses and tears (me, of course!) we settled down and decided to tell our stories over dinner.
Kate and Andrew had arrived in Vlore around lunchtime as they had pulled the pin after the first storm. They had checked into the country properly at a cost of 55 euros and apart from an official disappearing with their passports for an hour, which had cuased a few nervous moments, had had little trouble. The crew from Broke Aweigh hadn't checked in to the country and when we quizzed the marina guy he told us that the other 'English boat" hadn't checked in either but as long as we were gone by 7am things woukd be ok! He pocketed our 22 euros (cash) and photocopied our ships papers and returned them to us. The marina was almost empty and looked pretty desolate. Kate told me that the third loo along had a seat and toilet paper so I should use that one.
The crew of Broke Aweigh invited us out to dine with them at a restaurant they had been told about just up the road and although we technically shouldn't have stepped ashore, the lure of a decent meal was too tempting so we pulled down the quarantine flag on Shirley Valentine and headed off into the rainy night, smelly armpits and all.
We found them at a reasonable looking restaurant up the road and gratefully sat down and peeled off our sopping wet weather gear. The waiter spoke a little English, however there did not appear to be a menu or price list. We were offered chicken, fish or carne and after ordering, the food (and a few bottles of local wine) came thick and fast. Grilled chicken, greasy chips and Greek salad have never tasted so good!
Over dinner we learned Broke Aweigh's story. After the last text message we had received from them, they had decided against going into Vlore the first time around and we had almost mirrored each others movements all day. They had arrived in the marina about 1 hour before us. They had had some engine trouble and it had cut out altogether at one point. It had started again but now it kept dropping its revs on and off. They had also broken a shackle on their back stay during the trip. Poor Sue had had an even worse trip than me!
Towards the end of the evening, after feeding the restuarant cat the left over chicken, the boys got talking to a French couple in wet weather gear at the next table to us. He was a retired French naval captain and was a bit of a character! Soon we were all getting resounding 'cheek' kisses (including the men) and Craig will forever regret not telling him that he was probably the only French naval captain to kiss someone called 'Hardy'..........
We paid the bill and headed back out into the rain. We must have looked a sorry sight, as next thing we knew we were being bundled into the restaurant owners mercedes benz (all 5 of us with me sitting on Craig's knee) and were whisked back to the marina! Not sure if we had been ripped off and he was feeling a little guilty, however I prefer to think that he was just a really nice bloke!
We slept very soundly that night and awoke the next morning feeling a little hungover but refreshed and ready to set off. The weather had improved and although still overcast the rain had stopped. Lady Olivia had left a little earlier than the rest of us as they had gone to bed at a sensible hour and hadn't had any Albanian wine!!
We were now on about a quarter of a tank of fuel and had been advised not to refuel in Vlore as there was 'something wrong with the filter' and we would have been almost guarnteed dirty diesel. This was just a tad disappointing as this had been the main reason for pulling in there. Broke Aweigh had spare fuel on board but were (understandably!) reluctant to part with it. We decided to make the rest of the trip together, keeping in sight of one another and Terry loaned us his hand held VHF radio so that we could keep in touch. The decision was that if we ran out of fuel they would give us their spare and if their engine spluttered and died we would tow them.
We fled Albania before the 7am bewitching hour and for the first few hours got the promised winds from the north and were able to sail. Broke Aweigh challenged us to a race, which was just what the doctor ordered to get our minds off things and we had great fun battling it out down the Albanian coast. The result was announced as a 'gentleman's draw' however I am not a gentleman and I say that I won ! :-))
As the winds died off we reluctantly turned on our engines as we wanted to reach Corfu sometime this century. The highlight of the trip for us was the company of a pod of four dolphins who hitched a ride in our bow wake for about 10 to 15 minutes. Sublime!!
As we neared Corfu, Broke Aweigh radioed to suggest that we head into Kassiopi on the north eastern corner of the island for the night as it was getting late and we all showered and titivated ourselves up whilst still under way for a meal ashore on our arrival.
In Kassiopi, Craig and I had to do our first ever true 'med mooring' which involves dropping the anchor 3 to 4 boat lengths from the quay and reversing on it, then tying stern ropes to the quay. Luckily it worked first time and we didn't disgrace ourselves. We did have the advantage of having the crew from Broke Aweigh there to take our lines though! We had a lovely meal ashore and a great nights sleep.
In the morning I was determined to have an English breakfast which we found in a little cafe up town. I know I sound shallow and should be in Benidorm, however I devoured every drop of fried egg with gusto!
Craig was anxious to get to Gouvia marina to check into the country properly and so we decanted Broke Aweigh's spare fuel into our tank and headed off. We reckon we had reached Kassiopi with about 5 litres to spare.......
When we arrived at Gouvia marina we found both Lady Olivia and Karma Waters (who had set off from Dubrovnik the day before us). The latter had also encountered the storms but were able to keep going to Corfu. After more fond greetings we settled in.
After licking our wounds and resting for a few days we are now recovering. Craig only managed to book us into the country on Tuesday and we can officially stay for 6 months.
There was something wrong with our VHF radio and we were able to isolate a faulty connection at the base of the mast. This has now been repaired and we are also going to buy our very own hand held before setting off again. Broke Aweigh have had their engine repaired and have set off southwards. We have booked into the marina here for a month to give us a bit of a breather and plan to go on a road trip round the island for a few days while my wing heals. When I can sail again we will do day trips or over nighters using the marina as a base. Craig's daughter Anna is hopefully joining us for a week next Tuesday and it will be lovely to have her on board.
Well, that's all for now. I have to say that the massive positive out of all of this for me is the reinforcement of the fact that the majority of 'yachties' are thoroughly decent people and I am so glad to have made the acquaintance and had the support and company of the crews from Broke Aweigh, Lady Olivia and Karma Waters during this leg of our trip. Hope to catch up with you all somewhere on our travels!
To our families..... we are both safe and well. If you think about it like this, I got through 3 gruelling days at sea without as much as a bruise, then trip in the marina and end up in a cast! Just goes to prove that being on land is much, much more dangerous! :-))
xxxx
Lesley
Friday, May 28, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Any port in a storm!! Dubrovnik to Corfu (via Albania)
Well...... I have a story to tell, so please make yourselves a cup of coffee, or an alcoholic beverage of your choice and settle in.
The last time we spoke, we were preparing to leave Dubrovnik. We had prepared the boat, had water, provisions, had deflated the rubber ducky and stowed it...... all but fuel and as we had missed the fuel berth for the day would have to fill up at 7am on the morning of departure.
I hadn't slept well the night before departure due to a mixture of nerves, excitement and creaking mooring lines and we almost delayed our departure but decided to crack on as the plan was for me to sleep as much as I could after we had checcked out of Croatia. Ah, the best laid plans of mice and men........
Karma Waters (the Australian boat from Rosslyn Bay) had left the day before planning to anchor out for the night and then check out early the following morning at Dubrovnik, however they had found favourable winds and had kept going on the journey south and were therefore a good 12 hours ahead of the rest of the fleet.
When we awoke (an hour late as I had confused the time difference and had set the clock for 7am instead of 6am!), Broke Aweigh had already left as they were planning to check out at Cavtat. We went round to the fuel berth and filled up our taks before heading off to the customs quay at Dubrovnik. When we reached our first destination we Lady Olivia tied up to the quay. Andrew came running down the quay to tell us that they were (literally) on the wrong side of the fence and had been ordered to move.
We tied up at the big nasty stone quay on bollards that were big enough and far enough apart to hold the titanic with just a bow a stern line. We were still using our old, horribly thick mooring lines which had been supplied with the boat which necessitated us having a bowline at each end of the lines, one attached to the boat and an enormous loop round each of the bollard ashore (I HATE BOWLINES ON MOORING LINES!).
Craig invited Lady Olivia to come and raft up and this was done uneventfully enough. Andrew and Craig went ashore to carry out the formalities and I joined Kate on board Lady Olivia for a coffee. We were keeping a close eye on the lines as the swell and occassional gusts were pushing our noses on to the quay.
Andrew arrived back with 15 to 20 minutes, however Craig was delayed as we had some VAT stuff to do. We peacefully sitting watching the world go by when I realised that our stern line had come adrift at the Shirley Valentine end! Did I mention that I hate bowlines on mooring ropes!
We sprung into action Andrew turned on his engine and started to push Shirley's stern back on to the quay. Thank goodness he was there!!
About the same time, a surly customs office came down the quay who we assumed had come to help us....... instead he was there to tell us to move as the ferry was coming in! He reluctantly threw us our line (which we reattached properly!) and continued to insist that we leave. I (I like to think) quietly and calmly told him that my husband was still inside and if he could go and see what was holding him up we could be on our way. He declined this request politely and continued to insist that Lady Olivia leave immediately. The gallant Andrew (my hero of the moment) refused to leave me alone, but under continuous bombardment from the lovely customs man, had to leave and they set off down the bay. When the ferry came in it missed me by about 3 feet!
Craig sauntered back to the boat about 20 minutes later, totally oblivious to the event of the last half hour. By this time, I had started to sort out proper slip lines and we were able to cast off uneventfully from the titanic sized bollards and set off south with chests heaving (mine!).
The weather forecast look good for the trip with light northerly winds swinging from east to west which were perfect for us. I must mention at this point that 4 individual skippers and crews (one with a meterological background) had examined a plethora of different weather forecast sites and had drawn that same conclusion..... the wind gods were smiling on us.
The promised winds were blowing as we left Dubrovnik and we hoisted the sails, however within a few nautical miles it had swung round 'onto our nose' and we reluctantly revved up our Volvo Pentax and drops the sails.
The first day of our journey passed fairly uneventfully and we both tried to get as much sleep as possible. We had a hearty lunch and settled into a kind of routine with our watches. I was trying to let Craig get as much rest as possible as it was important to me to have him rested if things went pear shaped.
As it grew dark, I still felt fairly alert and Craig went down below for a sleep around midnight. I have never been totally in charge of a boat before during the night and was a little nervous. I donned my life jacket and safety line even though it was fairly calm.
After a while I started to relax and even to get a little bored. The darkness and rolling seas were soothing and it was a bit difficult to stay alert. I brightened up a little when we lost our depth sounder readings, however found out later that this was because the water was too deep to get a reading. Not what we are used to in Moreton Bay! The boat was on auto pilot, under motor and all I had to do was keep an eye out for approaching boats on the radar and try to stay alert. I played exciting games like seeing how many times I could pleat my safety line on its connection part from different parts of the cockpit. Kate told me later that she had been dancing around in the cockpit singing Abba songs while Andrew snored below! What hadn't I thought of that?
I was soon abruptly woken from my reverie by a dolphin jumping out of the water right next to the boat and shortly after that the radar started to light up like a christmas tree with lots of flashing purple freckles on it. I sussed out that this meant I may be approaching some things of significance and started to pay attention. Craig had seen one boat on his watch so I wasn't expecting company, however I was soon overtaken by a massive ocean liner and was then in the thick of a fishing fleet. This kept me awake for a few hours......
I was planning to wake Craig around 4am however he woke shortly before that and I sent below to rest. I watched a couple of episodes of two and a half men (which I love but I think may send any intelligent person to sleep!) and then settled in for a snooze.
Around 6am, Craig woke me from the deepest sleep I had had in days to tell me that there was a storm approaching and that I should probably get up. At this point we were about 30 nautical miles (nms) off the Albanian coast. We had been advised to steer well clear of this coastline as it is apparently regularly patrolled by Albanian police vessels so we were basically following a straight line to Corfu.
Albania is described in our pilot guides as 'a sad and desperate country trying to shake off the shackles of communism'. You are adviseed to contact your embassy before travelling there, to make sure you do the right thing by the 'thorough' but 'fair' officials, to make sure you don't need medical assistance as it is poor to non-existant, not to have ANY dental treatment, not to drink the water or milk, to wash any fruit or vegetables before use, that hepatitis and AIDS are rife, not to get in to an altercation with anyone as gun carrying is common and you will probably come off worst etc etc. You get the picture..... this did not sound like a sunny, happy place for a holiday.
We managed to almost skirt around the edge of the first storm by heading out to sea, however still copped around 30 to 35 knot winds and the sea was whipped up into a confused 2 to 3 metre swell.
I have to interject at this pint to say that I think sailors (with all due respect of course) are a little like fishermen in some regards..... you know; the one that got away gets bigger and bigger every time the story is told. In my humble experience, it is actually quite difficult to tell the actual height of a wave, particularly in a sloppy swell. If you are in 12 metre waves (which sound horrendous, I concede!), as long as they are smooth, rolling waves you apparently just ride up one side of the wave and surf down the other, trying desparately to stop your boat turning side on to the waves. In short, choppy waves of any significant height, you crash down off the top of one wave and bury your nose into the next one which covers the boat in salt water. This is what was happening to poor Shirley, but she valiantly chugged on. Craig and I were hand steering at this point in an effort to reduce the impact.
We have lost track now as to how many storms we went through and when, however we have agreed that we think we went through at least one more before coming abreast of Vlore in Albania around lunch time. We carried on for another hour or so before deciding to take our chances in Albania.
As we poked our nose into the channel, the winds dropped off and turned around to the north east as had been promised by the wind gods. We decided (wisely or not), with this turn of events to keep heading south and retraced our steps towards Corfu. We even got our sails up again briefly, however once again we were soon slamming into head winds.
Around this time, we received a text message from Broke Aweigh to say that they were heading into Vlore due to engine trouble and were relieved that at least one boat we know of was safe. We tried to return the text however our Croatian mobile had run out of credit and our Australian mobile wouldn't work. Maybe 3G don't have a reciprocal agreement with Albania yet!
We tried to raise anyone we could think of on the VHF radio, however we seemed to have no effective way of contacting the outside world. The squalls were now bringing rain and life was decidedly uncomfortable. Craig was resting on the cockpit floor at one point as I wasn't game to let him out of my sight. The diesel fumes started to get to him and he looked a little green for a while. At one point we buried the nose so efficiently into a wave that water poured half way up the dodger and into the cabin.
It is about this point that I stopped caring about the fact that I had not fed my fish in Happy Aquarium that day and whether not logging in for a few days would mean the loss of acquiring the much promised female mate for my maturing frog. One also stops caring if you have exceedingly levels of body odour, showering becomes a hazy memory as does other formerly important hygiene. We were existing on muesli bars and nuts as we really couldn't stomach much else and couldn't be bothered preparing a proper meal in the swell.
About 24 nms from Corfu (which we couldn't see at this point through the clouds), Craig informed me that he was worried about fuel consumption. We were down to about one third of a tank and were currently doing 3 knots of headway at 2,600 rpms. Even if we had put the sails up Corfu was still hours and hours away. With yet another nasty looking storm approaching, we decided to head back to Vlore (again).
End of part one for now as we have to go into town for a mobile phone.... watch this space!!
xx
Lesley
The last time we spoke, we were preparing to leave Dubrovnik. We had prepared the boat, had water, provisions, had deflated the rubber ducky and stowed it...... all but fuel and as we had missed the fuel berth for the day would have to fill up at 7am on the morning of departure.
I hadn't slept well the night before departure due to a mixture of nerves, excitement and creaking mooring lines and we almost delayed our departure but decided to crack on as the plan was for me to sleep as much as I could after we had checcked out of Croatia. Ah, the best laid plans of mice and men........
Karma Waters (the Australian boat from Rosslyn Bay) had left the day before planning to anchor out for the night and then check out early the following morning at Dubrovnik, however they had found favourable winds and had kept going on the journey south and were therefore a good 12 hours ahead of the rest of the fleet.
When we awoke (an hour late as I had confused the time difference and had set the clock for 7am instead of 6am!), Broke Aweigh had already left as they were planning to check out at Cavtat. We went round to the fuel berth and filled up our taks before heading off to the customs quay at Dubrovnik. When we reached our first destination we Lady Olivia tied up to the quay. Andrew came running down the quay to tell us that they were (literally) on the wrong side of the fence and had been ordered to move.
We tied up at the big nasty stone quay on bollards that were big enough and far enough apart to hold the titanic with just a bow a stern line. We were still using our old, horribly thick mooring lines which had been supplied with the boat which necessitated us having a bowline at each end of the lines, one attached to the boat and an enormous loop round each of the bollard ashore (I HATE BOWLINES ON MOORING LINES!).
Craig invited Lady Olivia to come and raft up and this was done uneventfully enough. Andrew and Craig went ashore to carry out the formalities and I joined Kate on board Lady Olivia for a coffee. We were keeping a close eye on the lines as the swell and occassional gusts were pushing our noses on to the quay.
Andrew arrived back with 15 to 20 minutes, however Craig was delayed as we had some VAT stuff to do. We peacefully sitting watching the world go by when I realised that our stern line had come adrift at the Shirley Valentine end! Did I mention that I hate bowlines on mooring ropes!
We sprung into action Andrew turned on his engine and started to push Shirley's stern back on to the quay. Thank goodness he was there!!
About the same time, a surly customs office came down the quay who we assumed had come to help us....... instead he was there to tell us to move as the ferry was coming in! He reluctantly threw us our line (which we reattached properly!) and continued to insist that we leave. I (I like to think) quietly and calmly told him that my husband was still inside and if he could go and see what was holding him up we could be on our way. He declined this request politely and continued to insist that Lady Olivia leave immediately. The gallant Andrew (my hero of the moment) refused to leave me alone, but under continuous bombardment from the lovely customs man, had to leave and they set off down the bay. When the ferry came in it missed me by about 3 feet!
Craig sauntered back to the boat about 20 minutes later, totally oblivious to the event of the last half hour. By this time, I had started to sort out proper slip lines and we were able to cast off uneventfully from the titanic sized bollards and set off south with chests heaving (mine!).
The weather forecast look good for the trip with light northerly winds swinging from east to west which were perfect for us. I must mention at this point that 4 individual skippers and crews (one with a meterological background) had examined a plethora of different weather forecast sites and had drawn that same conclusion..... the wind gods were smiling on us.
The promised winds were blowing as we left Dubrovnik and we hoisted the sails, however within a few nautical miles it had swung round 'onto our nose' and we reluctantly revved up our Volvo Pentax and drops the sails.
The first day of our journey passed fairly uneventfully and we both tried to get as much sleep as possible. We had a hearty lunch and settled into a kind of routine with our watches. I was trying to let Craig get as much rest as possible as it was important to me to have him rested if things went pear shaped.
As it grew dark, I still felt fairly alert and Craig went down below for a sleep around midnight. I have never been totally in charge of a boat before during the night and was a little nervous. I donned my life jacket and safety line even though it was fairly calm.
After a while I started to relax and even to get a little bored. The darkness and rolling seas were soothing and it was a bit difficult to stay alert. I brightened up a little when we lost our depth sounder readings, however found out later that this was because the water was too deep to get a reading. Not what we are used to in Moreton Bay! The boat was on auto pilot, under motor and all I had to do was keep an eye out for approaching boats on the radar and try to stay alert. I played exciting games like seeing how many times I could pleat my safety line on its connection part from different parts of the cockpit. Kate told me later that she had been dancing around in the cockpit singing Abba songs while Andrew snored below! What hadn't I thought of that?
I was soon abruptly woken from my reverie by a dolphin jumping out of the water right next to the boat and shortly after that the radar started to light up like a christmas tree with lots of flashing purple freckles on it. I sussed out that this meant I may be approaching some things of significance and started to pay attention. Craig had seen one boat on his watch so I wasn't expecting company, however I was soon overtaken by a massive ocean liner and was then in the thick of a fishing fleet. This kept me awake for a few hours......
I was planning to wake Craig around 4am however he woke shortly before that and I sent below to rest. I watched a couple of episodes of two and a half men (which I love but I think may send any intelligent person to sleep!) and then settled in for a snooze.
Around 6am, Craig woke me from the deepest sleep I had had in days to tell me that there was a storm approaching and that I should probably get up. At this point we were about 30 nautical miles (nms) off the Albanian coast. We had been advised to steer well clear of this coastline as it is apparently regularly patrolled by Albanian police vessels so we were basically following a straight line to Corfu.
Albania is described in our pilot guides as 'a sad and desperate country trying to shake off the shackles of communism'. You are adviseed to contact your embassy before travelling there, to make sure you do the right thing by the 'thorough' but 'fair' officials, to make sure you don't need medical assistance as it is poor to non-existant, not to have ANY dental treatment, not to drink the water or milk, to wash any fruit or vegetables before use, that hepatitis and AIDS are rife, not to get in to an altercation with anyone as gun carrying is common and you will probably come off worst etc etc. You get the picture..... this did not sound like a sunny, happy place for a holiday.
We managed to almost skirt around the edge of the first storm by heading out to sea, however still copped around 30 to 35 knot winds and the sea was whipped up into a confused 2 to 3 metre swell.
I have to interject at this pint to say that I think sailors (with all due respect of course) are a little like fishermen in some regards..... you know; the one that got away gets bigger and bigger every time the story is told. In my humble experience, it is actually quite difficult to tell the actual height of a wave, particularly in a sloppy swell. If you are in 12 metre waves (which sound horrendous, I concede!), as long as they are smooth, rolling waves you apparently just ride up one side of the wave and surf down the other, trying desparately to stop your boat turning side on to the waves. In short, choppy waves of any significant height, you crash down off the top of one wave and bury your nose into the next one which covers the boat in salt water. This is what was happening to poor Shirley, but she valiantly chugged on. Craig and I were hand steering at this point in an effort to reduce the impact.
We have lost track now as to how many storms we went through and when, however we have agreed that we think we went through at least one more before coming abreast of Vlore in Albania around lunch time. We carried on for another hour or so before deciding to take our chances in Albania.
As we poked our nose into the channel, the winds dropped off and turned around to the north east as had been promised by the wind gods. We decided (wisely or not), with this turn of events to keep heading south and retraced our steps towards Corfu. We even got our sails up again briefly, however once again we were soon slamming into head winds.
Around this time, we received a text message from Broke Aweigh to say that they were heading into Vlore due to engine trouble and were relieved that at least one boat we know of was safe. We tried to return the text however our Croatian mobile had run out of credit and our Australian mobile wouldn't work. Maybe 3G don't have a reciprocal agreement with Albania yet!
We tried to raise anyone we could think of on the VHF radio, however we seemed to have no effective way of contacting the outside world. The squalls were now bringing rain and life was decidedly uncomfortable. Craig was resting on the cockpit floor at one point as I wasn't game to let him out of my sight. The diesel fumes started to get to him and he looked a little green for a while. At one point we buried the nose so efficiently into a wave that water poured half way up the dodger and into the cabin.
It is about this point that I stopped caring about the fact that I had not fed my fish in Happy Aquarium that day and whether not logging in for a few days would mean the loss of acquiring the much promised female mate for my maturing frog. One also stops caring if you have exceedingly levels of body odour, showering becomes a hazy memory as does other formerly important hygiene. We were existing on muesli bars and nuts as we really couldn't stomach much else and couldn't be bothered preparing a proper meal in the swell.
About 24 nms from Corfu (which we couldn't see at this point through the clouds), Craig informed me that he was worried about fuel consumption. We were down to about one third of a tank and were currently doing 3 knots of headway at 2,600 rpms. Even if we had put the sails up Corfu was still hours and hours away. With yet another nasty looking storm approaching, we decided to head back to Vlore (again).
End of part one for now as we have to go into town for a mobile phone.... watch this space!!
xx
Lesley
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!
G'day.....
We are sitting in the ACI marina at Dubrovnik waiting for suitable weather to make a transit to Corfu in Greece (about a minimum of 30 hours all going well). The winds are still howling today, however things are looking good for tomorrow, so we plan to leave at sparrows fart in the morning. Got to check out of Croatia before we leave which we can do at Gruz 24 hours a day, so that looks like the best option. We heard yesterday that the police were looking for some people who had stayed past their 90 day visa limit, so we definately want to leave the country before we outstay our welcome. We will have to come back to this part of the world next year as we have really rushed the southern part of the country.
We headed down here on Friday of last week from Mljet as the weather didn't look too great for our planned trip down on Saturday. We had the best sail that we have had so far on the trip and finally remembered what our sails are for. Only had to motor for the last few nautical miles to get up to the marina. Whoo Hoo! Hopefully there will be more of this to come.
We are now meeting 'live aboards' thick and fast and have had some great social connections here. We have met a couple from Brisbane (John and Jenny from Faraway) who are in the process of buying a boat here, Kate and Andrew from Lady Olivia (from Pommy land, but don't hold that against them), and another Aussie couple from Rockhampton (Ray and Kim from Karma Waters) who we have been hearing about for weeks but have kept missing. Coincidentally they are heading to Corfu tomorrow as well, so we will have someone else to keep in radio contact with during the journey.
As you can probably gather, yachties don't seem to worry about surnames. It is all about your boat and we refer to people as ' so and so, from (insert boat name)....
Apparently we shared a pontoon with the actor Ralph Feinnes for a few nights. He was, of course, on a massive, very impressive looking gin palace. Craig passed him on the pontoon, but I didn't have the pleasure. The paparazzi were crawling all over the place just before we arrived. Mark Veduka (the Croatian soccer / football player who was the captain of the 'soccaroos' for a while) also has a house and a boat here.
Keith and Sue and their lovely friend Terry arrived back in Croatia on Sunday and we have been discussing the trip. I am both excited and nervous at the same time as this is the longest non stop trip that I will ever have done. Craig, of course, is nonchalant about it all as he has sailed longer trips up the Queensland coast. We will spend today provisioning, refuelling etc so that we can head off at first light.
We had a quick look round Dubrovnik yesterday and it is an absolutely stunning place. There is a town wall which you can walk around which surrounds the old city and a gorgeous piazza type arrangement in the middle. It would be so good if we could understand Croatian, then we might have some idea what we are looking at, but it is all very cute anyway (and looks pretty impressive age wise). There is an old pharmacy museum took which tweaked my interest however it was closed when we went to go in, so something else to do 'next time'.
Anyway, gotta go and do the washing.... It's a hard life. Craig is doing boy stuff getting the boat in tip top condition to head off. Hopefully this will be our last night in a marina for a while as we believe mooring costs are a lot cheaper in Greece. OMG, another steep learning curve, but I can do it (I think!!).
Take care everyone and will talk soon......
xx
Lesley (from Shirley Valentine) :-))
We are sitting in the ACI marina at Dubrovnik waiting for suitable weather to make a transit to Corfu in Greece (about a minimum of 30 hours all going well). The winds are still howling today, however things are looking good for tomorrow, so we plan to leave at sparrows fart in the morning. Got to check out of Croatia before we leave which we can do at Gruz 24 hours a day, so that looks like the best option. We heard yesterday that the police were looking for some people who had stayed past their 90 day visa limit, so we definately want to leave the country before we outstay our welcome. We will have to come back to this part of the world next year as we have really rushed the southern part of the country.
We headed down here on Friday of last week from Mljet as the weather didn't look too great for our planned trip down on Saturday. We had the best sail that we have had so far on the trip and finally remembered what our sails are for. Only had to motor for the last few nautical miles to get up to the marina. Whoo Hoo! Hopefully there will be more of this to come.
We are now meeting 'live aboards' thick and fast and have had some great social connections here. We have met a couple from Brisbane (John and Jenny from Faraway) who are in the process of buying a boat here, Kate and Andrew from Lady Olivia (from Pommy land, but don't hold that against them), and another Aussie couple from Rockhampton (Ray and Kim from Karma Waters) who we have been hearing about for weeks but have kept missing. Coincidentally they are heading to Corfu tomorrow as well, so we will have someone else to keep in radio contact with during the journey.
As you can probably gather, yachties don't seem to worry about surnames. It is all about your boat and we refer to people as ' so and so, from (insert boat name)....
Apparently we shared a pontoon with the actor Ralph Feinnes for a few nights. He was, of course, on a massive, very impressive looking gin palace. Craig passed him on the pontoon, but I didn't have the pleasure. The paparazzi were crawling all over the place just before we arrived. Mark Veduka (the Croatian soccer / football player who was the captain of the 'soccaroos' for a while) also has a house and a boat here.
Keith and Sue and their lovely friend Terry arrived back in Croatia on Sunday and we have been discussing the trip. I am both excited and nervous at the same time as this is the longest non stop trip that I will ever have done. Craig, of course, is nonchalant about it all as he has sailed longer trips up the Queensland coast. We will spend today provisioning, refuelling etc so that we can head off at first light.
We had a quick look round Dubrovnik yesterday and it is an absolutely stunning place. There is a town wall which you can walk around which surrounds the old city and a gorgeous piazza type arrangement in the middle. It would be so good if we could understand Croatian, then we might have some idea what we are looking at, but it is all very cute anyway (and looks pretty impressive age wise). There is an old pharmacy museum took which tweaked my interest however it was closed when we went to go in, so something else to do 'next time'.
Anyway, gotta go and do the washing.... It's a hard life. Craig is doing boy stuff getting the boat in tip top condition to head off. Hopefully this will be our last night in a marina for a while as we believe mooring costs are a lot cheaper in Greece. OMG, another steep learning curve, but I can do it (I think!!).
Take care everyone and will talk soon......
xx
Lesley (from Shirley Valentine) :-))
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Cultural experience in Tribunj.....
This display was part of the saints day celebrations in Tribunj. The ladies were teasing wool and spinning it. The guy was playing Croatian 'bagpipes' which we have seen in a few places now. They look like a pig or a goat skin with a plug in it's butt!
Gearing up to leave Croatia!
Now, here's the thing.... We want to go south. We have been told that the prevailing winds for this part of the world at this time of year are north westerlies. What have we been getting for over two weeks now? Yep, southerlies and south easterlies! We have almost forgotten what the bits of cloth attached to the pointy bits on our boat are for!
We are slogging south / east at a rapid rate of knots now as we have made arrangements with a lovely English couple that we met in Sukosan (you know who you are, Keith and Sue from "Broke Aweigh", don't be shy!) to sail in tandem to Corfu, leaving on the 18th of May, weather permitting. The winds are looking favourable at the moment with some northerlies predicted around that time, but as we have seen, things can (and do frequently) change.
We have moved around a lot over the last few weeks and as usual have had some interesting and exciting things happen. After leaving Tribunj, which was a fantastic place and one of those lucky strikes that we seem to have, we headed south towards Sibenik as we wanted to visit the Krka national park near Skradin. We sailed down to the mouth of the river (Kanal Sv. Ante) and stopped off at an old Austrian fort from the 1850's. As is fairly common in Croatia, this ruin was just being left to rot and we were able to pull up in our dinghy and wander round free of charge. There were massive underground chambers and it would have been quite impressive in it's day. We went further up river to anchor that night and had to go under a 23 metre bridge. Although our mast is only around 16.5 metres I was having kittens as I was convinced we were going to hit!! It really is a great optical illusion. We anchored in a little bay in the middle of a village called Vrulje that night. It was like being anchored in someones back yard. We could hear chooks, dogs barking and the children being yelled at by their parents!
The next day we continued up to a place called Skradin which is the entry point for the national park. The scenery was amazing and we were basically in a gorge with massive limestone cliffs rising for 100's of metres on each side with 20 metres of depth for about 5 of the 10 nautical mile trip. We booked into the Skradin marina which was really nice. There were heaps of boats there and we actually got to do some socialising. On our second evening there, we dined on a neighbouring boat. On board there were Russians, Ukranians, Lithuanians, Serbians and Polish!! We had the best night with one of the Russian lads bringing out his guitar and singing Russian folk songs. We all agreed that Harold Holt was taken by a Russian shark!!! :-)) There were a few sore heads the next morning.
We travelled up to the Krka national park by ferry boat the next day which is a little like Plitvice but on a smaller scale. It has a working monastery on an island in the middle of the river which we visited also. What a beautiful, peaceful place. I might become a monk. Think about it: Free rent in the middle of beautiful surroundings and no one (but hoards of tourists!!) to annoy you...... We also met a lovely American couple, Elise and Del who were travelling through Croatia. Still a bit of a novelty to meet English speaking people at this stage.
As there were high winds forecast, we were a little concerned with how tightly packed the boats were in the marina and we decided to head for Sibenik. On the way, we encountered MORE 45 to 50 knot winds and we proceeded under motor up Sibenik to marina mandalina which was the first marina which we have encountered with finger pontoons (just like Australia!). We tied up stern to in 45 knot winds. The following day, the marina registered 68 knot winds at the end of our pontoon!! We were very safe, however we have photos of good old Shirley straining on her mooring lines and heeling over on our marina berth.... When is it going to end. Even the locals are complaining about the ongoing bad weather.
From Sibenik, we headed south to Primosten where we headed to marina Kremik which had been recommended by a friend. This marina was probably the best that we have encountered in Croatia. We went by bus to Split the following day and spent most of the day wandering around the ruins of Diocletian's Palace in lovely weather. It is an amazing place and there just happened to be a festival on to celebrate the patron saint of Split. What a day! I climbed all the way up the bell tower on rickety rusty stairs. For those of you who know of my fear of heights this was no mean feat. Craig told me later that he felt very unsafe because of the state of the stairs and the lack of restriction on the number of people!! Work place health and safety is non-existent in Croatia!
Still in Kremik, the next day we met Steve and Sarah from Portsmouth. Steve is the skipper of a 60 foot vessel which is owned by a British Earl of somewhere! We got a short trip on the boat (about 1 million pounds worth!) and I even got to steer for a while. What fun! They were a lovely couple and we hope to catch up with them later. They live aboard during the summer and cook, clean etc for the family when they visit. What a life, getting paid to live on someone else's boat in such a beautiful part of the world!
From Kremik, we motored to Hvar (the party island!). Croatia is getting better and better the further south we get and it seems so unfair that we have to leave! At Hvar, we moored in the town harbour about 30 metres from the town square. Once again, we scored a festival (another saints day) and wandered around the old town and up to the fort at the top of the hill. We spent one night there (downside was that it cost us $40 just to pick up a mooring, but what a view) and then the following evening, due to a heavy swell that was making for an uncomfortable night we headed 1 nautical mile across the bay to Palmazina on the island of Sv. Klement. The marina was in a beautiful setting and a short walk through woodlands across the island took us to the most amazing restuarants. Imagine sitting sipping a glass of red directly over a bay with clear crystal water lapping the shore.
From Palmazina we had to motor (again!) into head winds. I know, we could tack, however we now have a time line so need to push south east! We got to Korcula after six hours of motoring and anchored in Uvala Luka just south of Korcula town itself. I know I keep saying this, but Korcula is the best place we have been to yet! It is the place where Marco Polo left for his adventures and the arguement is whether he was born there are not. There is evidence of Venetian rule on and around many of the buildings in the old town. We have met more Aussies in the past 48 hours than we have since we left Australia! We met a group of 18 to 35's who were from a (bed bug ridden) Croatian cruise boat and they invited us to join in their drinking games. We had a few with them and then took our old arthritic bodies back to bed!! There was also another boat in our anchorage with a boxing kangaroo flag up. We didn't get to meet them but were woken this morning by a rousing "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi' but before we got on deck they were heading off.
Today we met a couple from Perth (Neville and Jill) who we shared a few bottles of red with in a restaurant on the battlements of the fort overlooking the strait between Korcula and the mainland. What a magical day. On returning to the boat, we decided to push a little further south and are now sitting at anchor on the island of Mljet.
Our hurry is that we have to meet Keith and Sue and prepare for our trip to Corfu. We have finally accepted that we are not going to do this part of Croatia justice this year and will just have to come back next year! There is so much still to see and the weather is definately improving. I have been tempted to swim but haven't taken the plunge yet. What a wee Jessie!
Ah well. Better get some sleep. We were going to laze around tomorrow and visit another national park, however the planned trip to Dubrovnik on Saturday will have to be brought forward to tomorrow due to predicted bad weather on the weekend.
Sorry this blog is so long. This is due to my laziness and won't happen again! We will keep everyone updated and will get photos up as we can.
Take care everyone and talk soon......
xxx Craig and Lesley (Shirley Valentine)
We are slogging south / east at a rapid rate of knots now as we have made arrangements with a lovely English couple that we met in Sukosan (you know who you are, Keith and Sue from "Broke Aweigh", don't be shy!) to sail in tandem to Corfu, leaving on the 18th of May, weather permitting. The winds are looking favourable at the moment with some northerlies predicted around that time, but as we have seen, things can (and do frequently) change.
We have moved around a lot over the last few weeks and as usual have had some interesting and exciting things happen. After leaving Tribunj, which was a fantastic place and one of those lucky strikes that we seem to have, we headed south towards Sibenik as we wanted to visit the Krka national park near Skradin. We sailed down to the mouth of the river (Kanal Sv. Ante) and stopped off at an old Austrian fort from the 1850's. As is fairly common in Croatia, this ruin was just being left to rot and we were able to pull up in our dinghy and wander round free of charge. There were massive underground chambers and it would have been quite impressive in it's day. We went further up river to anchor that night and had to go under a 23 metre bridge. Although our mast is only around 16.5 metres I was having kittens as I was convinced we were going to hit!! It really is a great optical illusion. We anchored in a little bay in the middle of a village called Vrulje that night. It was like being anchored in someones back yard. We could hear chooks, dogs barking and the children being yelled at by their parents!
The next day we continued up to a place called Skradin which is the entry point for the national park. The scenery was amazing and we were basically in a gorge with massive limestone cliffs rising for 100's of metres on each side with 20 metres of depth for about 5 of the 10 nautical mile trip. We booked into the Skradin marina which was really nice. There were heaps of boats there and we actually got to do some socialising. On our second evening there, we dined on a neighbouring boat. On board there were Russians, Ukranians, Lithuanians, Serbians and Polish!! We had the best night with one of the Russian lads bringing out his guitar and singing Russian folk songs. We all agreed that Harold Holt was taken by a Russian shark!!! :-)) There were a few sore heads the next morning.
We travelled up to the Krka national park by ferry boat the next day which is a little like Plitvice but on a smaller scale. It has a working monastery on an island in the middle of the river which we visited also. What a beautiful, peaceful place. I might become a monk. Think about it: Free rent in the middle of beautiful surroundings and no one (but hoards of tourists!!) to annoy you...... We also met a lovely American couple, Elise and Del who were travelling through Croatia. Still a bit of a novelty to meet English speaking people at this stage.
As there were high winds forecast, we were a little concerned with how tightly packed the boats were in the marina and we decided to head for Sibenik. On the way, we encountered MORE 45 to 50 knot winds and we proceeded under motor up Sibenik to marina mandalina which was the first marina which we have encountered with finger pontoons (just like Australia!). We tied up stern to in 45 knot winds. The following day, the marina registered 68 knot winds at the end of our pontoon!! We were very safe, however we have photos of good old Shirley straining on her mooring lines and heeling over on our marina berth.... When is it going to end. Even the locals are complaining about the ongoing bad weather.
From Sibenik, we headed south to Primosten where we headed to marina Kremik which had been recommended by a friend. This marina was probably the best that we have encountered in Croatia. We went by bus to Split the following day and spent most of the day wandering around the ruins of Diocletian's Palace in lovely weather. It is an amazing place and there just happened to be a festival on to celebrate the patron saint of Split. What a day! I climbed all the way up the bell tower on rickety rusty stairs. For those of you who know of my fear of heights this was no mean feat. Craig told me later that he felt very unsafe because of the state of the stairs and the lack of restriction on the number of people!! Work place health and safety is non-existent in Croatia!
Still in Kremik, the next day we met Steve and Sarah from Portsmouth. Steve is the skipper of a 60 foot vessel which is owned by a British Earl of somewhere! We got a short trip on the boat (about 1 million pounds worth!) and I even got to steer for a while. What fun! They were a lovely couple and we hope to catch up with them later. They live aboard during the summer and cook, clean etc for the family when they visit. What a life, getting paid to live on someone else's boat in such a beautiful part of the world!
From Kremik, we motored to Hvar (the party island!). Croatia is getting better and better the further south we get and it seems so unfair that we have to leave! At Hvar, we moored in the town harbour about 30 metres from the town square. Once again, we scored a festival (another saints day) and wandered around the old town and up to the fort at the top of the hill. We spent one night there (downside was that it cost us $40 just to pick up a mooring, but what a view) and then the following evening, due to a heavy swell that was making for an uncomfortable night we headed 1 nautical mile across the bay to Palmazina on the island of Sv. Klement. The marina was in a beautiful setting and a short walk through woodlands across the island took us to the most amazing restuarants. Imagine sitting sipping a glass of red directly over a bay with clear crystal water lapping the shore.
From Palmazina we had to motor (again!) into head winds. I know, we could tack, however we now have a time line so need to push south east! We got to Korcula after six hours of motoring and anchored in Uvala Luka just south of Korcula town itself. I know I keep saying this, but Korcula is the best place we have been to yet! It is the place where Marco Polo left for his adventures and the arguement is whether he was born there are not. There is evidence of Venetian rule on and around many of the buildings in the old town. We have met more Aussies in the past 48 hours than we have since we left Australia! We met a group of 18 to 35's who were from a (bed bug ridden) Croatian cruise boat and they invited us to join in their drinking games. We had a few with them and then took our old arthritic bodies back to bed!! There was also another boat in our anchorage with a boxing kangaroo flag up. We didn't get to meet them but were woken this morning by a rousing "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi' but before we got on deck they were heading off.
Today we met a couple from Perth (Neville and Jill) who we shared a few bottles of red with in a restaurant on the battlements of the fort overlooking the strait between Korcula and the mainland. What a magical day. On returning to the boat, we decided to push a little further south and are now sitting at anchor on the island of Mljet.
Our hurry is that we have to meet Keith and Sue and prepare for our trip to Corfu. We have finally accepted that we are not going to do this part of Croatia justice this year and will just have to come back next year! There is so much still to see and the weather is definately improving. I have been tempted to swim but haven't taken the plunge yet. What a wee Jessie!
Ah well. Better get some sleep. We were going to laze around tomorrow and visit another national park, however the planned trip to Dubrovnik on Saturday will have to be brought forward to tomorrow due to predicted bad weather on the weekend.
Sorry this blog is so long. This is due to my laziness and won't happen again! We will keep everyone updated and will get photos up as we can.
Take care everyone and talk soon......
xxx Craig and Lesley (Shirley Valentine)
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Ah the serenity!
Shirley Valentine at anchor at the island of Ist. Beautiful spot and very peaceful!
There's something about Shirley Valentine!
Hi guys..... once again I have been selfish and have been too busy getting on with doing very little to keep in touch. I thought I would rectify that by telling you a little bit about our beast of burden that makes all of our adventures possible.
As I said in a previous blog, every boat owner falls a little bit in love (or a lot!) with their own particular lump of fibre glass (or whatever materials make up their floating palace!). Obviously there are other materials involved as well, but the fibre glass, in our case, is what stops us getting wet. When you visit other boats you always get the 'grand tour' and do your duty 'oohing and aahing' over that particular owners pride and joy. Don't get me wrong..... there are many fantastic boats our there which put Shirley Valentine to shame with regard to size, speed, facilities etc etc... but I think I can almost equate it to having a new born baby! You can appreciate that someone else's baby has more hair, bluer eyes, longer more slender fingers etc etc, but NOTHING can beat the joy you get when you look at, or hold your own. I know an inanimate object can never really be substituted for a child, so don't get too upset kids!
I only know that when we return to Shirley we get this surge of pride and pat ourselves on the back for making what we think is a great choice of boat.
For those who are interested, Shirley Valentine is a 38 foot Bavaria cruiser. She was built in Bavaria, completed in December 2009 and launched in Koper, Slovenia on 15th February 2010. The pure logistics of getting the boat to Koper are interesting in themselves and is probably a story for over a glass of wine when we return.
Shirley Valentine is a two cabin version of the 38 foot cruiser and this gives us a massive heads (the name for a bathroom on a boat for the uninitiated, not Craig's inflated ego!) and a fantastic sized cockpit locker on the starboard side. There is ample space for the two of us and we have very comfortably entertained 6 people. Our two cabins are a reasonable size and the fact that we are under 12 metres (coming in at LOA of approx 11.72 metres) makes marina fees cheaper for us as 12 metres is the cut off point for the next level of expensive marina use in Croatia. Our saloon area is a great size and we have a good sized fold down table which makes access to the forward cabin very easy.
Our diesel engine is a 30 horse power Volvo Pentax which we find adequate for plowing into strong head winds. What has surprised us the most is how stable the boat is. She has now been in hurricane force winds 4 times and has coped more than adequately.
We have added some extras. One of my favourites is the folding wheel, which gives us good access to the stern of the boat where our (non hydraulic, thank goodness) transom flap gives us excellent egress from the boat. We also have a TV/DVD player with an aerial. Most Croatian TV is in English with Croatian subtitles so we get to watch lots of movies etc. Added bonus!!
We also put in a Webasco heater as we are thinking of doing the West coast of Scotland and the Baltic at some point. It has however been a life saver over the past few months and I think I would have been on a plane home on more than one occassion if we hadn't had heat!
We added a Schenker water maker while we were finishing commissioning is Monfacone. This was due to the fact that we were told that drinking water was hard to come by on some of the Greek islands. So far in Croatia though we haven't had a problem with supplies of water although the high calcium levels make it a bit unpalatable at times. Our kettle is constantly coated with white powder! We will have to wait and see if this was a wise purchase or not.
Our galley is L shaped and has the usual fridge/freezer. I still haven't quite got a handle on this and keep freezing my vegetables and milk! We also added a microwave which has come in very useful. We only usually use it when we are on shore power, although we have an invertor which enables us to use it at anchor if we so desire.
We have heaps of cupboard space and LOVE the rows of cupboards throughout the saloon and forward cabin. Although we are regularly increasing the volume of stuff that we have on board, we still have heaps of unused space.
The saloon is spacious and pleasantly lit. We are however going to replace all the bulbs with LED lights when we can get supplies to reduce our power consumption.
As also noted in a previous blog, our biggest problem is power generation. We have fairly limited solar panel capacity which has had limited use up until now. We have increased our storage capacity by adding another house battery (giving us a total of 420 amp hours) which helps a little, however we are not sure which direction to go in to increase generation. Every one you ask, of course, has their own opinion. A wind generator would have been fantastic up until now, however we have been warned that it will get very little use in the summer months. Extra solar panels will take up deck space and are very expensive. Then there is the option of a small generator. Watch this space!!!!
We are very saddened that Bavaria are ceasing production of this model and moving to a sleeker, more modern version. But again, we are old! It seems that they have an almost perfect product in the current model, so why change is our opinion.
As I said earlier, Shirley Valentine has a piece of our hearts! I am not sure if people who travel extensively in caravans get this feeling for their vans, however it is a popular sentiment in yachties. Maybe it is because you have to work with a boat to keep safe and get the ultimate enjoyment out of her and that when you get to know her limitations (and your own!) it is very unlikely that you will come to any harm. Whatever the unknown quantity is...... is creates an depth of emotion in you that is unexplicable.
If anyone else wants to know anything else about the boat or life aboard, please feel free to ask. If you want to buy your own piece of heaven I believe production is continuing on this model until August 2010!! :-)))
Will blog tomorrow to update everyone on where we are at.
And isn't Jessica Watson doing fantastically!!! You go girl!!
xxx
Lesley
As I said in a previous blog, every boat owner falls a little bit in love (or a lot!) with their own particular lump of fibre glass (or whatever materials make up their floating palace!). Obviously there are other materials involved as well, but the fibre glass, in our case, is what stops us getting wet. When you visit other boats you always get the 'grand tour' and do your duty 'oohing and aahing' over that particular owners pride and joy. Don't get me wrong..... there are many fantastic boats our there which put Shirley Valentine to shame with regard to size, speed, facilities etc etc... but I think I can almost equate it to having a new born baby! You can appreciate that someone else's baby has more hair, bluer eyes, longer more slender fingers etc etc, but NOTHING can beat the joy you get when you look at, or hold your own. I know an inanimate object can never really be substituted for a child, so don't get too upset kids!
I only know that when we return to Shirley we get this surge of pride and pat ourselves on the back for making what we think is a great choice of boat.
For those who are interested, Shirley Valentine is a 38 foot Bavaria cruiser. She was built in Bavaria, completed in December 2009 and launched in Koper, Slovenia on 15th February 2010. The pure logistics of getting the boat to Koper are interesting in themselves and is probably a story for over a glass of wine when we return.
Shirley Valentine is a two cabin version of the 38 foot cruiser and this gives us a massive heads (the name for a bathroom on a boat for the uninitiated, not Craig's inflated ego!) and a fantastic sized cockpit locker on the starboard side. There is ample space for the two of us and we have very comfortably entertained 6 people. Our two cabins are a reasonable size and the fact that we are under 12 metres (coming in at LOA of approx 11.72 metres) makes marina fees cheaper for us as 12 metres is the cut off point for the next level of expensive marina use in Croatia. Our saloon area is a great size and we have a good sized fold down table which makes access to the forward cabin very easy.
Our diesel engine is a 30 horse power Volvo Pentax which we find adequate for plowing into strong head winds. What has surprised us the most is how stable the boat is. She has now been in hurricane force winds 4 times and has coped more than adequately.
We have added some extras. One of my favourites is the folding wheel, which gives us good access to the stern of the boat where our (non hydraulic, thank goodness) transom flap gives us excellent egress from the boat. We also have a TV/DVD player with an aerial. Most Croatian TV is in English with Croatian subtitles so we get to watch lots of movies etc. Added bonus!!
We also put in a Webasco heater as we are thinking of doing the West coast of Scotland and the Baltic at some point. It has however been a life saver over the past few months and I think I would have been on a plane home on more than one occassion if we hadn't had heat!
We added a Schenker water maker while we were finishing commissioning is Monfacone. This was due to the fact that we were told that drinking water was hard to come by on some of the Greek islands. So far in Croatia though we haven't had a problem with supplies of water although the high calcium levels make it a bit unpalatable at times. Our kettle is constantly coated with white powder! We will have to wait and see if this was a wise purchase or not.
Our galley is L shaped and has the usual fridge/freezer. I still haven't quite got a handle on this and keep freezing my vegetables and milk! We also added a microwave which has come in very useful. We only usually use it when we are on shore power, although we have an invertor which enables us to use it at anchor if we so desire.
We have heaps of cupboard space and LOVE the rows of cupboards throughout the saloon and forward cabin. Although we are regularly increasing the volume of stuff that we have on board, we still have heaps of unused space.
The saloon is spacious and pleasantly lit. We are however going to replace all the bulbs with LED lights when we can get supplies to reduce our power consumption.
As also noted in a previous blog, our biggest problem is power generation. We have fairly limited solar panel capacity which has had limited use up until now. We have increased our storage capacity by adding another house battery (giving us a total of 420 amp hours) which helps a little, however we are not sure which direction to go in to increase generation. Every one you ask, of course, has their own opinion. A wind generator would have been fantastic up until now, however we have been warned that it will get very little use in the summer months. Extra solar panels will take up deck space and are very expensive. Then there is the option of a small generator. Watch this space!!!!
We are very saddened that Bavaria are ceasing production of this model and moving to a sleeker, more modern version. But again, we are old! It seems that they have an almost perfect product in the current model, so why change is our opinion.
As I said earlier, Shirley Valentine has a piece of our hearts! I am not sure if people who travel extensively in caravans get this feeling for their vans, however it is a popular sentiment in yachties. Maybe it is because you have to work with a boat to keep safe and get the ultimate enjoyment out of her and that when you get to know her limitations (and your own!) it is very unlikely that you will come to any harm. Whatever the unknown quantity is...... is creates an depth of emotion in you that is unexplicable.
If anyone else wants to know anything else about the boat or life aboard, please feel free to ask. If you want to buy your own piece of heaven I believe production is continuing on this model until August 2010!! :-)))
Will blog tomorrow to update everyone on where we are at.
And isn't Jessica Watson doing fantastically!!! You go girl!!
xxx
Lesley
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